Sydney Uni Is The Latest University To Be Hit By Horrific Islamophobic Attacks

The last few months have seen a disturbing number of Islamophobic attacks on Australian university campuses. In December, Junkee reported on a wave of anti-Islamic incidents at unis in Western Australia, including far-right activists physically invading prayer spaces and a pig’s head found in a mosque toilet.

Now it seems another wave of attacks is underway, this time at the University of Sydney. In February obscene anti-Islamic graffiti appeared on the main campus, and the Muslim prayer room was repeatedly broken into and vandalised, prompting the Sydney University Muslim Students’ Association to “demand that the safety of Muslim students on campus is addressed immediately” by university administration.

“Muslim students at the University of Sydney have approached the SUMSA committee expressing concern for their safety. They are both saddened and angry by the incidents and a heavy atmosphere of anxiety amongst the Muslim community on campus is growing with the increase of such Islamphobic incidents,” SUMSA says. “Unless these matters are actively addressed, the university will see a growth in Islamophobic incidents, to the detriment of Muslim students who attend their institution.”

Several weeks later, as the actions of whoever’s behind such attacks grow bolder, those words seem prophetic. This morning a number of posters around the university’s main campus in Camperdown and Darlinghurst were taken down after being defiled with hateful and violent Islamophobic sentiments like “fucking terrorist” and “Muslims rape babies”.

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A number of student bodies have been vigorously condemning such incidents for weeks. This afternoon the University of Sydney Union, the Students’ Representatives Council and the Sydney University Postgraduate Representative Association released a joint statement detailing this latest attack.

“Student organisations have been in contact with both the University and Campus Security to seek action on this issue and investigate whether CCTV footage is available in the area,” the organisations said. “This is just a further example of Islamophobic attacks on Muslim students at University campuses across Australia.”

USU President Alisha Aitken-Radburn called on “university, students and staff” to “band together” to combat Islamophobia, while SUPRA President Christian Jones said “the university is failing to provide [a] safe space” for its Muslim students.

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All images via the University of Sydney Union.